Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 27:108 (Oct 1870)
Article: Theories Of The Resurrection
Author: J. C. Stockbridge

BSac 27:108 (Oct 1870) p. 674

Theories Of The Resurrection

J. C. Stockbridge

If a man has been living in a pleasant and costly house, and is about to vacate it, it is not an unworthy curiosity which leads him to ask what probably will be the destiny of the mansion in which he has dwelt. Will it remain as it has been? As the process of decay goes on in its different parts, will the work of reconstruction also go on? Or will it at last crumble into ruins, and on its foundations another structure, more elegant, better adapted to meet the wants of its occupant, be reared? These questions have reference to the house of wood and stone in which we dwell. But we, as immaterial beings, live in another house. Erelong we are to depart from our dwelling-place. The “earthly house of our tabernacle” is to be “dissolved.” Is it an idle curiosity which prompts us to inquire concerning the destiny of this tabernacle?

In the following pages it is not the writer’s purpose dogmatically to state and defend any formal doctrine of the resurrection, but to set forth some of the theories which have been advanced on this subject. It will be seen, in the course of the examination, that the most diverse views have been held by men whose claim to be sincere disciples of the Great Teacher, no one can reasonably dispute; and, therefore, no particular theory can be set forth as a sure test of orthodoxy.

The earliest belief on the resurrection, so far as we can ascertain, may be traced to the sacred writings of the Hindoos. In these writings, however, this belief does not take the form of a distinct doctrine, but is embraced in the system of pantheism which was worked out with such minuteness of detail by the Oriental mind. In so far as that system came

BSac 27:108 (Oct 1870) p. 675

to be received by other nations, who derived their highest culture from the East, the doctrine of a bodily resurrection, followed by an absorption into the Deity of the matter of which human bodies are composed, was necessarily held.

It is a debatable question whether the doctrine is taught in the earlier Jewish writings. Calvin maintains that the oldest of Jewish writers, the author of the Book of Job, firmly believed in the literal resurrection of the body, and quotes the famous passage “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” etc. (Job 19:25, 27), in support of this opinion. It is conceded, however, we believe, by the best biblical critics, that a different and more correct rendering of this passage gives to it such an interpretation as to exclude the idea that the patriarch had any reference to a future resurrection of the body. The language of Jehovah to Abraham on the occ...